The last hour
by rik-italy
Summary: After the death of Dumbledore, can the Dark Lord doubt about the loyalty of Severus Snape? The double faced character of Snape as it can appear... before Deatly Hallows.


I wrote this story in italian (original title "L'ultima ora") in a contest in which it was not classified.

Trying to describe the ambiguous Snape I made the story ambiguous itself.

Credits I owe:

to AtlantisLux and Kevin for thier beta reading of my rough translation

* * *

Through a high and narrow window, the moonlight shone over a man laying on the stone ground. 

He was bare-chested and completely immobile. When a noise of steps came from the adjacent corridor, the man clasped his hand and stretched the arms, as he was lifting an invisible weight laid on his shoulders. Slowly he raised his face to the door.

The door opened, and a beam of light hit the man's black-ink eyes. He shut them hastily, lowering the head so to partially cover his face with the forearm. Then the man lowered his neck, partially covering his face with a forearm.

He attempted to raise briefly his eyelid and he was not surprised to see the shape of a tall and slim man, wearing a white cloak, entering in the room. Long and thin fingers poked out from the sleeves while a not completely human face emerged from the hood.

That nose was flat, shaped as a snake's one, the eyes red, and the skin was as pale as if he was nothing but a corpse. In spite of that, though, the face did inspire neither pity nor disgust, but a perverted and unsettling charm.

The man bore an expression of sadist enjoyment, which could just make any interlocutor alarmed, rather that charmed. He pulled out a thin wand from a pocket of the cloak and waved it, with a gentle and quick gesture, towards a fireplace on the one side of the room.

In that very moment a fire started to pop merrily, enlightening the place. The man in the clock put away his wand and look at the other.

The latter showed no signs of wounds, although he move slowly, as if an insupportable pain rose from his very bones, muscles and nerves. He turned his neck to face the comer, realizing that now his eyes could suffer the light. So, he let it to draw his appearance.

A hooked nose dominated the face of the man, framed in dark, greasy hair. He took a breath and his sight, determined and fierce, met the one of the other man.

"Good evening, Severus." the cloaked man said. His lips tightened and his diabolic smile became wider.

"As Bella told you, I was heavily anxious to see you." he continued, "So heavily I asked her to be certain you could not leave before my arrival. Bella agreed perfectly with this order, I daresay with pleasure, as it is in her style."

He raised his hand to study the nails, as if they were as important as the man laying at his feet. Then he started speaking again, without a single glance to Severus.

"Poor you, Severus, to think at how easily it is not to believe you. You could never amend that appearance of a man gloomy, prideful, unfriendly." The voice had a tone of false compassion. The sight of the man reached Severus again.

"Yes, you never meant to be understood. You never wished to share with others your acquired knowledge. For this reason you should never been completely faithful. For this reason you had the duty of a spy. I reckoned soon that there was a boasted difference between the other Death Eaters and you. A difference which could lead my enemies to believe you were not on my side."

The voice became full of hatred.

"You know, Severus. I'm Voldemort. I'm the Dark Lord. I'm the last living descendant of Salazaar Slytherin. I'm the most powerful wizard alive since the age of Merlin. To me it's granted to raise above all mortal beings. Your fate is to lay flat in the dust, in the vain attempt of trying the same thing."

Severus gritted his teeth in a wave of fury and pain.

"Are you wondering if I think you are a traitor?" Voldemort asked, "Honestly I don't care about your loyalty. I'd have never asked you to be in front of me, in your last hour, just because I thought you were not completely faithful."

A glimpse of amusing appeared in his red eyes.

"I found you useful, extremely useful. I did not imagine you could have such an important role. I needed information about Albus Dumbledore and I trusted his biggest weakness in order to have them through you. He always believed the best of people and keep you close to him, both while I was near to my triumph, and while I was spending long years powerless.

When I gained a body again, I appreciated the reasons you offered me. Plausible and reliable reasons. As they were meant to be, if you wanted to deceive me."

The mouth of Voldemort twisted in a complacent smile.

"But you never tricked me, Severus, since I never trusted you. Actually, I could have used my whole power to obtain the truth directly from your mind. To discover if you were faithful, as you pretended to be, or if you had betrayed me for Dumbledore or for the Minister. But why bother to do that? I already had what I needed. A spy."

Voldemort spelled the next phrase slowly.

"Yes, you were the person I needed, even if you were a traitor."

Severus raised painfully his trunk, turning on his side.

"You are intelligent, Severus, it's unmistakable" Vodemort observed, "and I knew you would have effectively accomplished your task. And the task required you to remain alive." he made a wicked smile, "You couldn't survive giving Dumledore all the information you had, because I would have immediately discovered you were his source. Neither you could live hiding me too many significant facts about Dumbledore supporters, the so called Order of the Phoenix. You had to be an useful spy for me, or you would not have been a spy for others."

Voldemort granted himself a pause, looking with amusement at the face of the man at his feet. Severus did not appear surprised. On the contrary, he tried to keep his breathe at a steady rhythm, like the one of an athlete before the final rush.

"Where did your loyalty lie, Severus?" Voldemort started again, "Tell the truth. It can't make any difference, now. Both Dumbledore and I knew you could steal information for the other. I recognize easily how to use you. Your usefulness was bigger for the one who gave your the lesser opportunity to display his plans. Your usefulness was greater for the one who trusted you the less, and this was not that old ingenuous."

Voldemort raised his eyes to the sky, thoughtfully.

"I never ceased to ask myself, sometimes, why Dumbledore had to die. Apparently, you slew him according to my plan to have him killed. But I suspect he preferred to sacrifice himself in order to save the man he believed to be an useful spy, a spy above every suspicion. And every time my answer was the same."

The voice of Dark Lord became instantly full of rage.

"He is dead. His time has ended. He won't be an obstacle again. Nobody can stand between me and all tasks I have to accomplish, neither the one who, so far, has always managed to survive my attacks. Harry Potter."

On Voldemort's face a devious smile appeared again.

"And with this, your value for me, Severus, has come to an end. I didn't reckon useful for me to let you know of all the rest of my plans. Since Dumbledore's death, none of my enemies could doubt you were at my side. And wasn't this the best warranty that you would have concealed yourself, exactly in the way I wished you to do?"

Voldemort turned to stare at the wide portion of moon who peeped through the window.

"So you waited. Long months waiting, together with Wormtail who was watching you, hoping you made a mistake. Then he would have been quick to report that mistake to me, looking forward to gain a better consideration.

Voldemort seemed busy in counting the few stars that poked in the sky.

"It's easy to understand what Wormtail is going to do. He betrayed who he had called friends. From them, his only gain will be hate and contempt. He had a key role in my return to power because he was forced to believe in me, while everyone thought I was finished. So he can be useful, the most valuable among incompetents and idiots."

Voldemort shook his head, then fix again his piecing glare at the man at his feet.

"You are too intelligent for him, Severus, too intelligent for doing something stupid, as he wished. And obviously I counted on that."

Voldemord passed a moment. When he restarted talking a moment later, his voice was shrouded with chilly sarcasm.

"Forgive me. I'm wandering. I didn't explained why you are here. The reason because you are going to die."

Severus didn't turn away his gaze, neither moved back an inch.

"I didn't need your loyalty then and I do not need it now. Nonetheless I'm forced to use to my whole power to enter your mind. Yes, Severus, I'm worried. And I had never been concerned in a similar way, since my first encounter with Dumbledore. Since you are dying, I can tell you why. Nagini has vanished.

Their eyes met, and for long instants only the silence lingered between them.

"In spite of the fact I'm not exactly a novice in Legilimency, I can't read any of your thoughts about it. I'm really impressed about Dumbledore's watchfulness... or rather it's your skill in hiding thoughts I have to praise?"

He smiled, almost amused.

"You deserve the high consideration of your equals, Severus. Nobody, before you, accomplished the task of keeping in the uncertainty the Dark Lord. And I need to be sure that no error was made by Dumbledore. That he did not try to hide from you something he discovered, something which could be used against me. So I'll enter your mind and this will drive you completely insane."

He raised his hands and pushed back both sleeves, exposing his wrists.

"Veritaserus is of no use on you." he explained, "You have the knowledge of the most used antidotes and I'm sure you know also some I could not easily detect. So, you see, what I'm going to do on you is something unavoidable. Sure, I have no reason to kill you, but don't you think it will be crueller to let you alive, reduced to a mindless ghoul? And, again, don't you reckon you have to be rewarded for killing my greatest enemy?"

Voldemort moved a step closer to the door and called: "Bella!"

"I asked Bella to prepare the poison which is expected to put and end to your suffering." he said to Severus, "She is no proud of it. I dare to say she wished for you a longer punishment for your insolence."

"Bella, where are you?" Voldemort called again, "Fenrir? Fenrir?!"

Severus lied on the ground, each part of his body motionless, but his lips stretched a tiny smile.


End file.
